Sir John Falstaff’s tummy is very big and needs a lot of looking after: the fat knight can consume as much as 6 chickens, 30 flagons of wine, 3 turkeys, two pheasants, a sardine... every day. But he cannot pay! That is why he is looking for a source of money and thinks that the wealthy ladies Alice Ford and Meg Page might be just the ticket. Things do not end well, as we know – in both Shakespeare and Verdi’s works.